Cong(I), RJD hoodwinking people, says JD(U)

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 5. The Janata Dal (United) today accused the
Congress (I) of being the `B' team of the Rashtriya Janata Dal
(RJD) in Bihar and said that this was evident from the absence of
any attack on the RJD by the party president, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi,
in her election campaign in the State on Friday.

Addressing a news conference here the JD(U) general secretary,
Mr. M. Raghupathy, said that though the campaign theme of Mrs.
Gandhi was disappointing, it was not surprising. ``It is very sad
that she has not said a word on the jungle raj, corruption and
non-governance in the State''.

Mr. Raghupathy claimed that the Congress(I) and the RJD were
hoodwinking the people by fielding candidates against each other
while in reality they were fighting the Assembly elections as
allies.

He said that by renominating nine Ministers against whom charge-
sheets had been filed, the RJD had proved that it wanted to carry
forward the same legacy.

The JD (U) also released a list of 55 candidates. The party is
fighting as an electoral ally of the National Democratic Alliance
and has appealed to the NDA partners to abide by the agreement.
Mr. Raghupathy urged the rebels to retire from the fray and
ensure two-thirds majority to the NDA.

As per the agreement, the BJP is contesting 150 seats, the Samata
Party, 90, JD (U) 55 and the Bihar People's Party, 20 seats.
Failure of the NDA to arrive at an agreement on identifying seats
had led to a situation where the partners ended up fielding
candidates against each other in the first two phases.

On the burning of three students in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Raghupathy
said that it was a feudal and barbaric act and appealed to the
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, to order an
enquiry into the incident.

Without naming anyone, Mr. Raghupathy said that the party
responsible for the incident should apologise not only to the
people of Tamil Nadu but the whole country. He wondered why the
Tamil Maanila Congress had not deemed it necessary to comment on
the incident.

Besides Bihar, the JD (U) is contesting seven seats in Haryana,
14 in Manipur and nine in Orissa. But it will be pitted against
the NDA partners in States other than Bihar.